


A Fathers Love is Unconditional

by TheFoxofFiction



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Arguments, Crying, Deceit's name is Lloyd in this au, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Kid Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Kid Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Kid Morality | Patton Sanders, Patton is 10, Roman and Remus are 6 years old, Running Away, Single Dad AU, Single Dad Logan, Sympathetic Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders, Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, Teenager Deceit Sanders, Virgil is 8, and Deceit is 17, past bad parenting, shouting, some curses
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2019-11-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:01:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21515719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheFoxofFiction/pseuds/TheFoxofFiction
Summary: Being a single dad of 5 adopted kids was not the easiest, but Logan was set on making it to work.He knew how to handle the twins, despite their chaos, he did his best to help Virgil with his anxiety and worries, he did his best to make sure Patton was able to talk about his feelings without judgement and be himself, and he was trying his best to make his oldest feel like Logan’s house was a place to call home.
Relationships: background Dr. Emile Picani & Thomas Sanders
Comments: 27
Kudos: 216





	A Fathers Love is Unconditional

**Author's Note:**

> I might do more for this au, but I don't know.

Lloyd was scowling as he pushed the iron gate open. He had been at this house for two weeks now, he kept to himself in class, doing his best to push people away, if he didn’t get attached, then there was nothing and no one for him to miss, the moment he screwed up and got sent back.

He scolded his expression as he walked up the stone path. The metal of the gate clanked as it closed behind him. He fixed his worn messenger bag better on his shoulder before he stepped up on the porch, and opened the cream coloured front door and entered the house that was his current living space.

“I’m back!” he called.

The house was warmer than the outside, and Lloyd relaxed as he let his bag fall to the floor, with a heavy thud, before he took of his worn leather jacket, full of patches and pins. He hung it up next to Logan’s dark coat and two extra jackets he didn’t recognise instantly.

He stepped out of his well worn sneakers and moved to grab his bag again when he saw how the twins had once again forgotten to hang up their own jackets properly. He rolled his eyes and put his bag over his shoulder once more and moved further inside, leaving the hallway only to stop. The house was far too quiet for being the home of 4 kids raining between 6 and 10. Virgil wasn’t occupying the couch, watching tv, there was no loud chaos from the twins, no Patton sitting at the table drawing in his colouring books humming to himself and no Logan sitting in his armchair reading while listening to Daft Punk or Pink Floyd on the stereo.

Lloyd looked around in confusion before he heard a loud offended squeal from upstairs followed by loud laughter. “ _Remus! On the walls! Not on your brothers face!_ ” someone scolded but he couldn’t quite place the voice, but he knew it wasn’t Logan. Must be either Emile or Thomas then... that would explain the extra jackets.

Lloyd suddenly remembered that Logan had sent him a text earlier that day and moved his hand to his pocket to fish out his phone, to reread the message Logan sent him just before class started.

Logan had asked if they could move the children's beds into his room for one night, Lloyd had been to confused to ask why the others beds would need to be moved, but he had despite himself said yes. 

Lloyd walked upstairs, pocketing his phone again, only to blink when he found how the floor was covered by brown protective paper, and that all of the furniture that usually were in the kids’s rooms now occupied most of the hall’s space and the office.  
Weird.

The doors of the twins room, and Virgil’s and Patton’s shared room were wide open. Not unusual in it’s own right, but in the way they were open fully were not a normal occurrence. Logan suddenly exited Virgil and Patton’s room, a splash of green coated his left cheek as well as some red, dark purple and baby blue splatter on his face and neck. Lloyd stopped walking and just stared at him.

“... what the _fuck_..?” 

“Oh, welcome back Lloyd , I didn’t hear you come in.” Logan said moving one hand to fix his glasses, only to stop when he saw he had fresh paint on his fingers, and instead grabbed a dirty rag from his pocket, covered in different smudges of paint, to clean his fingers with. “The twins found some old paint buckets in the garage and begged me to let them repaint their room. Virgil and Patton wanted to do it too, so we took a trip to the colour store to buy the paints they wanted for their rooms. I... was not entirely sure if you wanted to paint your room as well, so we left it alone, the reason why I asked if the others could sleep in your room until we finished repainting theirs.”

“I... uh-”

“DEE!“ Remus suddenly shouted from the doorway to his and Roman’s room, making Logan grimace and the oldest of the children to flinch and hiss a curse under his breath. “LOOK! You gotta come and LOOK!” Remus was more or less covered in green and some red as he waved his arms, thankfully not holding in a paint brush.

“What did you do? You look like a christmas tree! Did you take a bath in the paint?” Lloyd asked in a startled tone before he could stop it. Remus blinked in return, before his whole face lit up and he turned to Logan.

“OH! CAN I? CAN I?”

“No! The paint goes on the walls, you are not a wall, and you are already way due bath time. I will not have you turn into the green goblin.” Remus just whined stomping the floor, before he looked at Lloyd again. “DEE! COME ON! YOU GOTTA COME SEEEEEEE!”

“Fine, fine!” Lloyd grumbled walking past Logan to where Remus was, now bunching on the spot.

Lloyd looked into the room the twins had as their own. It was bigger than he first thought, but then again, the twins were always bad at keeping it tidy, making it appear smaller with how crammed it usually was.

“Oh this must be magic, I can see the floor.” Lloyd gasped with all the drama he could while keeping a bored voice, making Remus blow a raspberry at him in return.

Roman was standing on a ladder held in place by Emile, painting the top of the wall to the best of his ability, splatter of red on his nose and a big splat of green on his cheek, tongue peeking out as he concentrated.

“Oh, Hi Dee.” Emile said with a beaming smile from there he stood. Lloyd just gave a stiff wave in return before Remus grabbed his hand and dragged him further inside, causing Lloyd to yelp and stumble.

“Look! Look!” Remus shouted happily as he pointed at a green doodle he done on the part of the wall that wasn’t painted yet. “I DREW A DICK!” Lloyd couldn’t help the snort that left him, not noticing how Remus beamed even stronger, Roman’s screeched and Emile gave away a suffering sigh.

“Good job.” was all the teenager said after clearing his throat. He would have patted Remus on the head, if it wasn’t for the mess of green paint that was coating most of the reddish-brown curls.

Lloyd turned to move back to Logan, who still stood in the door way.

“But the twins finding the paint cans can’t be the _only_ reason you’re letting them do this.” he said as he exited the room, looking up at the adult.

“No, it was not, but I believe it is a good idea, giving them something they can do to show that this is their home too.” Logan spoke, his eyes leaving Lloyd to look at the twins

Lloyd felt his eye twitch, but he nodded and continued towards his own room, walking past Patton and Virgil’s room, unlike the twins, who took one wall each to paint on the opposite sides of their room. Had Virgil and Patton decided on painting one wall the one in the middle in both their colours, in a beautiful swirly pattern with flowers and swirling ivy in baby blues and dark purples. Thomas was helping them reach and kept watch so they didn’t get hurt, he was currently holding Virgil to help the eight year old paint a big ivy leaf high up on the wall. Patton waved at Lloyd when he saw him, Lloyd only rolled his eyes and continued to his own room.

Painting the walls to make it more like home, bah!  
That was so stupid.

He grabbed the door and slammed it close behind him, cringing and cursing inwardly, he had not meant to do that!  
He knew how much Virgil hated slamming doors.

The teenager grumbled as he walked towards his bed, avoiding the four other beds before he threw his bag to the floor next to his desk and face-planting onto his bed and groaned into his pillow.

Why would painting of the walls make it any more of being a home, when 'home' was nothing but a subjective and any place you lived at long enough became ‘home’ by default, even if you didn’t like the place.

Lloyd turned his head to the side as he glowered at his wall.

He still remembered the first family that took him home from the orphanage when he was 7. Saying they would adopt him and love him. He had gotten help from the man who would become his father to repaint his room in any colour he wanted, in the end they chose for him, because they didn’t like the colour yellow. It took time to paint it, Lloyd had slept on the couch when his room was unusable, and they never got finished. Because they didn’t like how he kept lying, getting an ‘attitude’ with them over, in their opinion, trivial things. They sent him back within a week.

More families followed, some worse than others, he always ended up doing _something_ to screw it up. Being too loud, not being loud enough. Talking back, not talking back, spending to much time with them and being ‘clingy’, not spending enough time and being ‘distant’. It was never the same, making Lloyd grow paranoid in trying to figure out what the grownups wanted from him so he could act accordingly, but he also grew to never trusted any of them, because like before there was always _something_ that got screwed up and blamed on his inability of being a good son, and then... he became a teenager and the families who looked to adopt lessened in numbers, because no one wanted a teenager, it was easier with a baby or a young child, no emotional package, starting from scratch. Lloyd had gotten accustomed to the thought of growing out of the system without ever being adopted.

But then Logan showed up. And with all the past happenings as clear examples, why would he be any different?

\- - -

A knock on his door and the sound of it being opened snapped Lloyd out of his trip down a very unpleasant memory lane. He grumbled and moved so that his back was to the door.

“Go away.”

“Uncle Tom Tom made dinner.” Virgil said, making Lloyd look towards the door.

Virgil stood in the doorway, both hands at the door knob and on his tip toes to reach, looked freshly cleaned, his dark hair, almost as dark as Logan’s, was all over the place and still a bit damp with how it shone in the light from the hall.

“He’s Logan’s best friend, not an uncle.” Lloyd grumbled in reply as he flopped back down. Virgil just huffed but didn’t say anything else.

Lloyd pushed himself up from the bed and looked to the door when silence was all that followed, only to find that Virgil had already left, leaving the door open. Lloyd hissed, he had a ‘Keep closed’ sign on his door _for a reason_!  
If he got to have a door he was going to keep it closed!

Loyd was grumbling and huffing to himself as he exited his room, closing the door after himself, before he moved along the hall towards the stairs.

He sent a look to Virgil and Patton’s room once more, to see how they had made the swirls trail over to the next walls as well, but by the look of things they were finished for the day even if the wall was far from complete. When he passed Roman’s and Remus’s room he found how the twins had apparently changed sides to draw doodles in their colour on the opposite wall, making the red and green pop, but not clash, thankfully.

He was almost at the stairs when laughter reached his ears. Lloyd moved silently closer and he sent a look through the bars of the stairs to find how the others were sitting around the kitchen table. Patton was beaming, Logan had his face in his hands while Thomas and Emile were laughing. Virgil was giggling behind his hand and Remus and Roman were clinging to each other, trying to stay upright on their chairs as they too laughed. The clear aftermath of a dad joke, made by a 10 year old.

Lloyd watched silently, they looked happy and like a real family, if you ignored that Virgil was the only one of the kids who looked closest to resemble Logan, apart from his darker skin. Patton had wild brown hair and skin covered in freckles and dark eyes. Roman and Remus had darker skin as well, but not as dark as Virgil’s. Out off them all Lloyd was the palest, even rivalling Logan’s winter paleness, apart from the big splatter of the big birthmark and freckles that took up most of the left side of his face and dusted his nose and cheek as well as his shoulders and legs. The one thing Virgil and Lloyd had in common was their bi coloured eyes, Virgil’s were blue and green while his own were blue and a yellowish brown. Lloyd looked away, rubbing a hand at his cheek, before he huffed and stood up and walked down the stairs, he was actually hungry, and would not let his mind make him chicken out.

“Dee! Uncle Thomas made pancakes!” Patton cheered, mouth full of the fluffy deliciousness, maple syrup making his lips shiny.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, Patton.” Logan scolded as he cut up his own pancake into pieces before putting one in his mouth.

“ _He’s not your uncle._ ” Lloyd grumbled under his breath as he sat down on the empty chair that was left.

Thomas smiled as he moved the plate with thick fluffy pancakes over so Lloyd could take as many as he wanted.

Dinner passed without much trouble, the others were talking about a lot of things, Lloyd were only listening with half an ear. Roman and Remus had made a new friend at school. Virgil had been brave enough to answer some of the teachers questions, and Patton had gotten a high mark on his math homework which made him happy, because he had struggled so hard with it, but Logan had helped him. When they asked Lloyd if anything special had happened in school he just shrugged.

He missed how Logan frowned slightly and how the adults at the table seemed to have a silent conversation with just their eyes. Dinner continued, Remus started to talk when it was quiet for too long, making the chatter between the kids and adults come back up again. Lloyd kept chewing his pancakes, ignoring the sense of detachment he felt at the table.

\- - -

Logan’s two best friends left once dinner was over.

Patton, Roman and Remus gave them good bye hugs while Virgil watched from the side lines, Lloyd rolled his eyes again as he returned into the living room sitting down on the couch.

The house was a tad bit more silent with Thomas and Emile not there, but the twins were quick to make up for it, by rushing in and grabbing the tv game console and putting it up and started Super Smash.

“You can play until the news!” Logan called from the kitchen as he put away the leftovers in tupperwares, one went straight into the fridge, since he knew most of the kids wanted pancakes for breakfast, while the rest went into the freezer.

The twins gave one combined call in reply.

To the sound of the game Lloyd got lost in thought once more, and he kept worrying about when the second shoe would drop. He’d gotten so used to screwing something up that the longer the time went, the more paranoid and stressed he became. He was doing a good job at hiding it though, but this was the longest he’d been at one place, and it was stressing him out.

He never told anyone this, because he didn’t want them to say he had nothing to be worry about, or just saying he was fine.  
So he kept it inside.  
Bottling it up.

Only, bottles had a limit of space, and sooner or later they would overflow.

\- - -

If he was honest, he couldn't remember what started the argument, just that it spiralled too far out of his control.

It was near the end of the third week that Lloyd had been with the Sanders.  
The kids beds were still in his room since the painting of the walls took a bit longer than planned, and with the sudden onslaught, that was Remus and Roman’s snoring, he didn’t get much sleep.

All that combined with the stress of constantly being over aware of everything he did and fearing the figurative shoe, to finally drop. Lloyd’s nerves were fried, and with it, his rational thinking and brain to mouth filter was thrown out the window.

“Will you stop calling him Papa already!?” Lloyd shouted, causing all of the younger ones to flinch, Patton getting the brunt of his undeserved anger. Lloyd was shouting inside his head to stop talking, but it was over voiced. “HE’S NOT YOUR REAL DAD!” his ears were ringing and his vision was tunnelling and he was distantly aware of Logan calling the nickname Remus made up the moment Lloyd walked through the door the first day or arrival. “HE ADOPTED YOU ALL! BECAUSE YOUR REAL DADS AND MOTHERS WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY OF YOU!”

He saw the tears that was growing in Patton’s eyes, and wanted nothing more than to take those words back. But the damage was already done.

“Lloyd! That’s **enough**!” Logan snapped, rising from the armchair in one fluid motion, book still in hand.

Lloyd knew he fucked up  
he always screwed up  
 _this was it._

Logan was going to call the orphanage and send him back.

Just like every other adult before him.

Lloyd was barely aware of his hands shaking hard at his sides, they had always been good at revealing his emotional state.

His vision was tunnelling more and growing blurry and the memories of every other time he screwed up flashed before his eyes.  
All the once accepting people growing angry and shouting.

_Run._

Lloyd straightened up and looked Logan in the eye the best he could, all he saw was anger, the same anger of everyone else.

_RUN!_

Lloyd turned on his heel and ran for the door.  
The front door slammed into the wall as he threw it open as he stumbled outside. Barely managing to get his old sneakers on properly.

He was good at running.

He fumbled with the gate, hearing Logan calling his name only to be overpowered by Patton’s wail, before the door closed with a slam behind him, from the left over force from when he threw it open with.

Lloyd managed to get out through the gate and started to run again, barely noticing the chilling november rain crashing down outside, soaking his clothes instantly and plastering his hair to his face and neck.

He wasn’t sure where he was going, he just knew he had to get away.

So ran was all he did.

Lloyd wasn’t sure for how long he’d run, he had slowed to a walk not long ago, but the cold of the rain and the low temperature was starting to numb him and his body started to register the cold. He hugged around himself, regretting not grabbing his leather jacket. Now left in only a plain T-shirt, that was clinging to him like a second skin.

He flinched and stumbled when his phone started ringing loudly. He fumbled to fish it out from his wet pocket, he felt a stab to his chest when he saw that it was Logan who was calling. His thumb hovered over the swipe button before he pressed the side button and put his phone back in his pocket. Letting it continue ringing, now silently.

Another shiver shook through his chilled limps, but he tried his best to ignore them as he for once had a pretty silent mind.

A door opened to his right, casting light into the dark evening.

A gasp reached his ears, but he didn’t have the energy to look who it could be.

“Dee?” someone asked, there was the sound of some fumbling as the person got something from inside before rushing out. “Dee- Lloyd! Wait!”

Lloyd stopped walking, having not expected anyone to call his name and turned his head slowly to find how Emile hurried to open the wooden gate and now stood with one hand on the gate to the garden around his and Thomas’s house. An umbrella over his head making the rainfall even more potent with the way it pattered against the fabric. 

“Lloyd? What are you doing here?” Emile gave him a once over, worried frown clear on his face. “ Oh my- Oh dear, you’re soaked right through, What are you doing outside dressed like that in the middle of November, you’re going to get yourself sick!” Emile said, fussing some more.

Lloyd was cold, tired and too emotionally exhausted to keep holding all the emotion filled bottles in his arms.

One by one they fell and with them tears grew in his eyes before they mixed with the rain.

Lloyd opened his mouth to say something, but all that left his mouth was a sob, which caused Emile to stop talking and really look at him. When the first sob broke free, more followed as the tears grew and joined the wetness on his face from the rain. Lloyd hunched forward hugging himself harder as he choked on his breath a wounded noise leaving from his lips as he folded in on himself, crying loudly.

Emile stared at him with a slight panic, before he moved forward, shielding Lloyd from the cold rain with the umbrella as well.

“Hey, hey, shhhh. You will be okay, easy. Can I touch you?” Lloyd din’t reply but just slumped against Emile’s chest. Emile blinked before he looked down at Lloyd and gave him a sad smile and pulled him closer, bending down a bit to kiss the dirty blond locks atop of the teenager’s head. “It’s okay, you’re okay. You’re going to be just fin. Let’s get inside, okay? Getting some tissues, and working out some issues oh! How about some hot chocolate? I feel like hot chocolate is a good idea.” Emile spoke as he gently lead Lloyd towards the gate, rubbing his shoulder and back in comfort, holding him as close as he could, while Lloyd kept crying into his shoulder.

Thomas had just been about to open the door to see where Emile went when they entered, he did a double take when his eyes landed on Lloyd.

“What-?” he started but Emile shook his head mouthing an ‘I don’t know’ as he stepped out of his shoes and helped Lloyd do the same with the soaked sneakers before moving them towards the bathroom. 

“Could you get some dry clothes for him?” Emile asked, Thomas just nodded and disappeared into a small hallway.

The bathroom was warmer than the hall but Lloyd still shivered when Emile helped him worm his way out of his drenched clothes. They had just been victorious over the T-shirt when Thomas returned with the dry clothes.

“They are probably to big for you, kiddo, but they are dry.” Thomas said with a smile. Lloyd just sniffled and nodded, looking very much like a wet miserable kitten.

“Do you think you can handle yourself now, or do you want me to help?” Lloyd made a shoo motion with his hand making Emile nod “You can just put your went clothes in the dryer and press the button right here and it will dry them.” Emile said “I’ll go and get that hot chocolate ready, okay.” Lloyd nodded again and Emile left the bathroom with Thomas, closing the door behind them, leaving Lloyd to finish wrestling his way out of his wet clothes on his own.

“What happened?” Thomas asked in a hushed tone while Emile started to get the hot chocolate in order. Filling to cups with milk and mixing the cocoa powder into them before putting them in the microwave.

“I don’t know. I let out a spider and saw him walking along the road, all alone, in the rain, and when I talked to him he just broke down. I just... I just hope nothing bad happened.”

“Should I call Logan and ask?”

Emile didn’t get to answer as Lloyd exited the bathroom. The pyjama pants (that clearly were Emile’s with the pink colour and the star pattern) were dragging against the floor, and one of Thomas’s sweater was way to big for him, but he didn’t look like he was going to complain, he was still shivering, but not as badly as before.

“Not too bad.” Emile said with a smile as he moved over. “The hot chocolate will be done in a bit, let’s get you warmed up.” Lloyd sniffled again rubbing at his red rimmed eyes, the tears seemingly did not want to stop falling. Emile gently ushered him to the living room and sat him down on the couch, before bundling him up in one of the plaits, and then sat down next to him on the couch. Opening his arms in invitation, Lloyd looked at him for a moment, before he took it, curling up under the plaid and slumped against Emile who held him close.

There was a pling from the microwave and Emile would get up but he currently had a bundle of sad 17 year old pressed tight to his side, so the no move rule was in motion.

A smile grew on his lips as Thomas came walking holding the two cups of hot chocolate in his hands, he gently handed one to Lloyd who took it after sitting up a bit more and sipped at it slowly, not wanting to scald himself. Emile took his own cup, but not before Thomas stole a sip from it before handing it over making a face at it being far too sweet for his taste.

The warmth from the hot chocolate warmed him up from the inside, waking up his limbs, but it also made him extremely sleepy. Emile took the empty cup from his hands and placed it on the coffee table, before he started to card his fingers through the unruly locks atop Lloyd’s head, still a bit damp from the rain.

The teenager made a small hum from the back of his throat and closed his eyes, leaning into the touch before he could think better of it and started to quickly doze off. Missing the happy look Emile gave Thomas.

“He’s like a kitten!” Emile squealed silently. Thomas had sat down on the coffee table and reached out to stroke away a tear from Lloyd’s cheek.

“A sad, troubled kitten.” Emile sighed and nodded, pulling Lloyd a bit closer, the teen only mumbled something but didn’t wake, nuzzling closer. Causing both grownups to ‘aw’ as silently as they could.

\- - -

Logan stared at the door, frozen in place, he had never seen Lloyd give him that expression before, eyes blown with panic, tears clinging to his eyelashes and barely breathing, Lloyd had looked terrified, and Logan wasn’t sure if it was of him or something else.  
The loud wail that left Patton broke him out of his stupor and he rushed over to console his son.

“Shhh, it’s okay, it’s going to be okay.” Logan spoke as he gently gathered the crying ten year old in his arms.

Patton clung to him, burying his snotty face in his neck, Logan fought off a shiver of disgust, at the feeling, as he moved them over to the couch and held Patton close murmuring comforting words into his hair, until Patton was only sniffling. The other boys had moved closer too, Roman and Remus looked close to crying as well, and Virgil was holding his hands at his ears, not liking the loud volumes.

“Why don’t Dee want you as his papa?” Remus asked with a watery sniffle. “Doesn’t Dee like us?”

Logan sighed as he brushed his knuckle against Remus’s cheek to catch the tear.

“I believe it is more complicated than that.” Logan said with a sad smile.

“How?” Patton asked with a sniffle looking up at Logan with teary eyes.

“Well, firstly he has been with many families before he came to us, but they sent him back because they didn’t want him to be their son.”

“But why?!” Patton cried

“I don’t know Patton, but he is with us now and I have no plans on sending him back.”

“Then we will adopt him!” Roman shouted throwing his arms in the air. Logan just chuckled.

“If you were the grown up you could very much adopt him, but you are still a child, and you children are nearing your bedtime.”

A serie of whines and unhappy noises met Logan’s ears, he just smiled.

“Not up for debate, to bed you go.“

“Will... Will Lloyd be here when we wake up?” Virgil asked looking at Logan with big worried eyes “What if he doesn’t want to come back? What if he really does hate us and rather be with another family?”

“I will try my best to make sure Lloyd comes back home safe. I highly doubt he hates any of you.” Logan ruffled Virgil’s hair “Now, tooth brushing time! and don’t eat the tooth paste this time Remus!”

“ _You can’t stop me!_ ” Remus shouted.

“I can and I will!” Logan replied as he ushered Virgil and Patton along up the stairs. Finding Remus and Roman fighting over the spot before the mirror.

While the kids were brushing their teeth, Logan took out his phone and tried to call Lloyd, only to get to voice mail. He wasn’t sure what to say with the kids within earshot, so he hung up with a sigh, worry curling in his belly.

Logan helped the four children get ready in their beds and read one good night story before he kissed their brow and tucked them in, before closing the door behind him.

The moment he was sure he was out of earshot he grabbed his phone again and tried Lloyd’s number once more, only to once again get to voice mail, he left a message this time, before sending a text, or... ten.

Logan stepped downstairs and removed his glasses before rubbing at his eyes, why wasn’t he answering?! Logan opened the front door and looked out into the dark, the rain was still crashing down unbothered. Logan sighed as he closed the door again, only to freeze to the spot when he caught sight of Lloyd’s leather jacket hanging on the hook.

“Oh no...” his hand moved to cover his mouth, panic swirling in his body. Lloyd had only been wearing a t-shit! What if he got hypothermia and died?! Logan brought up his phone again and called the first person he could think off to call, Thomas. He just hoped he didn’t wake the guy, but then again, neither Thomas or Emile knew what a steady sleep schedule was.

“ _Hi, Logan._ ” Thomas answered on the second ring.

“Salutations, Thomas. I think I may have... what do the kids say, ‘screwed up’? not sure what the screw is, but-” Logan rambled in a rush

“ _Hey, hey, easy, breathe, okay. I don’t want you to get a shortness on breath with me._ ”

“Lloyd is gone... There was a argument, I don’t even remember what started it, but he ran off. He forgot his jacket, and it’s raining and cold and what if he get’s sick or get hypothermia and freezes to death-”

“ _You’re starting to sound like Virgil, Logan. And you don’t need to worry._ ” Thomas turned to look to Lloyd who was still sleeping, leaning against Emile who was watching Thomas with rapt attention. “Emile found him earlier, he’s dry and warm now, but... I think you might need to talk to him, he kinda broke down on us.”

“ _What..? Oh- Yeah... I’m sure I have more to talk to him about than that... and more probably_ ” Logan sighed. “ _I’m just glad he’s safe._ ”

Lloyd was roused from sleep by talking, he slowly peeled one eye open a silver to see Thomas talking on the phone.

“- Logan listen, he has his emotional baggage, you can’t expect to be a easy road, there is going to be big and smaller bumps along the way.” Thomas said but chuckled at whatever Logan replied “Hey, don’t judge me, mister.” Thomas laughed, before he sobered up. “We could bring him back- Wha- No? Are you sure? Oh... Okay.”

_No._  
Logan had said no, that was it, this was the shoe dropping.  
Logan would most likely pack his stuff come over to drop it off before making Thomas and Emile take him back to the orphanage.

Tears started to fall from Lloyd’s eyes again and he gave away a low keening sob, alerting Emile, who tried to comfort him, but it did not work, Lloyd just kept crying, hiding his face in the plaid, curling up under the fabrics, as if to hide from the world, that never wanted him.

He wasn’t sure for how long he cried, but when he calmed slightly he found Emile gone and heard low talking from the entryway before they grew silent.

Steps reached his ears and he slowly glanced up slightly when a felt a hand brush through his still slightly damp locks. Logan was looking back at him, crouching before the couch to be at eye level.

“Hey.” Logan said in a gentle tone. “I think we need to have a talk.”

“If you’re going to send me back just say so already.” Lloyd mumbled in a thick voice, hiding his face again, not wanting to see Logan’s face when he delivered the news.

“What?” Logan sounded shocked. “Why would I send you back?”

“I fucked up...”

“Care to elaborate?” Logan asked as he sat down on the coffee table before the couch.

“...I shouted at Patton and made him cry... I keep slamming the doors despite knowing Virgil hates it...”

“Why would any of that be enough reason for me to send you back? Families have their disagreements and arguments quite often.”

“I’m not your son though...” Logan sighed as he moved on hand to place it on Lloyd’s head.

“Look at me, please.” Lloyd slowly peeked out from behind his arms, Logan gave him an encouraging smile. “You may not be flesh of my flesh, nor bone of my bone, but never think for even a single moment, that I don’t love you like my own.” Logan gently cupped Lloyd’s cheeks, stroking some of the stray tears away with his thumb. “I was planning on telling you on christmas, kinda like a christmas present, but with hos things transpired I may as well tell you now, to ease your worries.”

Lloyd blinked at Logan who only smiled a bit more.

“... What?”

“I ‘m going to adopt you, like I’ve done with the others, the paperwork are still being worked through, but I wan’t _you_. You. A headstrong, caring, boy who I want to call my son.” Logan carded his fingers through Lloyd’s hair as the teenager gave away a shuddering breath as more tears fell from his eyes, from a completely different reason this time.

Logan pulled him close, moving from the coffee table to the couch, holding the teenager to his chest as Lloyd cried.

“Family is not defined by our genes, it is built and maintained through love.” Logan spoke placing a kiss atop Lloyd’s head. “You’re _my_ son, and I love you, the kids love you. They were so worried you hated them when you ran off.”

“I- I don’t!- I don’t hate them-” Lloyd choked out between the sobs, voice cracking and breaking at several words. “I- I don’t hate you either.”

“I know, I know.” Logan said before he sighed “This is a bit my fault, I should have asked how you were faring more often, I read you file, I know how many people send you back, I should have realised that you needed me to show you that we wanted you around, to be there for you and that _I_ wanted you.” Lloyd gave away another sob as he clung to Logan for dear life, afraid that if he let go he would wake up to find this was only a dream, and Logan held on to him. Doing his best to show the boy he was loved and grounding him at the same time.

Thomas and Emile watched silently from the kitchen with smiles of relief on their lips, staying on the outskirts in order to giving their best friend some alone time with his son.

It was late when Logan and Lloyd left, Lloyd back in his own clothes, now dried and warm. Logan made sure he drank water and got some salt to help against the headache of dehydration from crying. The car ride home was silent, expect for the radio that played some far to early christmas songs, but the silence was not uncomfortable, it was calm and gentle. But Logan knew he had to say this before he forgot, so with a small sense of guild at breaking the comfortable silence he spoke

“Lloyd.” the teenager turned to look at him, while he himself kept his eyes on the road. “You can talk to me if something is troubling you, and if not me, then you can talk to Thomas or Emile, okay? You don’t have to keep everything bottled up inside, I want you to be happy and feeling okay, but I won’t be able to help if I don’t know if there is anything wrong, so please. In the future, talk to me before things get’s too much.”

“...Okay.” Lloyd managed to croak in a tired whisper giving a weak smile at Logan who glanced away from the road to look at him and smiled back. Logan let go of the steering wheel with one hand to ruffle Lloyd’s hair.

“You are a good kid, Lloyd.” Lloyd nodded, unable to keep the more genuine smile off his lips.

\- - -

“I have some things to do still, but it’s bedtime, good night, and I’ll see you in the morning.” Logan said giving Lloyd’s shoulder a squeeze before he disappeared into the living room.

Lloyd stood still for a while before he moved towards the stairs but he stopped at them, hesitating. Logan had moved over to where a box stood, filled with a bunch of textbooks, Logan was currently putting them into the bookshelf, but it took time due to his strict organisation technique.

Lloyd drummed his fingers against the banister, before he turned away from the stairs, and before his mind could make him retreat, he hugged Logan from behind, placing his forehead between Logan’s shoulder blades. Logan halted what he was doing to look back over his shoulder.

“Lloyd? everything... ‘gucci’?”

“Y-yeah... I... uh... I just...” Logan turned in his arms before smiling down at the teen when he peeked up.

“How about we move to the couch? I’ve heard it is the best place for comforting snuggles.” Logan said with a smirk.

“Did Thomas and Emile tell you that?” Lloyd asked with a smirk, Logan just laughed in return.

After they moved to the couch, they ended up just talking, Logan wasn’t sure if the crying had left Lloyd more open or if he was too tired to pull his walls up again, but Logan got to know more about the teenager as a individual than he had through the three weeks of Lloyd become part of the family.

Logan sent a glance towards the stairs and chuckled to himself, making Lloyd blink and make a questioning noise.

“You kids are not as stealthy as you’d like to believe it is 2 hours and 31 minutes past bed time!” Logan called.

A serie of squeaks were heard from upstairs and Lloyd first now looked to the stairs, to find how the kids were all there huddled together clearly trying toeavesdrop.

Roman and Remus were pouting as they came downstairs, saying it was the others fault they got caught. Virgil and Patton followed behind. Virgil brought his blanket with him, having it wrapped around his shoulders like a protective cocoon. Lloyd felt a stab of guild when he noticed how Patton hesitated for a moment before he moved closer. Lloyd sat up, opening his mouth to say something but was cut off when Patton suddenly hugged him.

“Welcome home.” Patton mumbled into his shoulder. Lloyd was frozen to the spot for a short moment before he moved his arms to hug Patton back.

“Patton, I’m sorry... I shouldn’t have shouted at y-”

“Welcome _home_.” Patton said again with more force behind his words, hugging Lloyd harder. Lloyd felt tears grow in his eyes once more that day and held Patton closer.

“I’m home.” He whispered into the mop of hair atop Patton’s head.

“I WANNA HUG DEE TOO!” Roman shouted only for Logan to shush him, but it didn’t seem to help as Remus shouted that he too also wanted to hug Lloyd.

In the end Lloyd found himself smothered between the four kids, he turned his head to give Logan a pleading and slightly panicked look, only making Logan burst out laughing before he smiled and lifted the whole son package and hugged them all, making some groan and for Remus to make a gagging noise while sticking out his tongue.

  
\- - -

“Dee! What about this one! Is this yellow good?!” Patton called as he came carrying a big bucket of paint in the colour of sunflowers.

“Uh- maybe?” Lloyd stod at the shopping cart, it had some new paint brushes in it as well, but other than that it was fairly empty the floor at it’s side, on the other hand, had a bunch of yellow paint in different hues. Logan was keeping an eye on Remus since the twin had decided that looking for yellow paint was boring and wanted to see what else the store had, Leaving Lloyd with the remaining children. Virgil was sitting curled under the cart hugging the yellow bucket of paint he found, not letting it go, while Patton and Roman both carried pretty much every yellow paint bucket they found over to Lloyd who felt like he had been thrown into the open sea as was far over his head.

Logan came back later with a clearly unhappy Remus at his hip, looking very tired. He semed to blank at the sight of all the paint.

“We... don’t need that many...” he said in slight shock.

“But Dee won’t choose!” Roman whined.

“I like the paint I choose best.” Virgil grumbled. Logan looked to Lloyd who could just shrug with a lost expression.

“That’s fine. You sure you want your room to be yellow?” Logan asked, Lloyd hesitated before he nodded.

“Yeah..? I- I mean it doesn’t have to be _yellow_!” Lloyd hurried before he looked away from Logan, scratching at his cheek “I can go with any colour at all if you don’t want yellow, I- I-” Logan moved forward and placed his hand on Lloyd’s shoulder making the teenager snap his mouth shut and look up at Logan with worried eyes.

“Yellow is fine, Dee. How about we choose what hue you want?” Logan was not going to stop loving the genuine smile that grew on Lloyd’s lips, it almost rivalled Patton’s, but Lloyd’s smile was very rare.

If Logan ever met any of Lloyd’s previous foster parents, he had a bone to pick with them, but for now, he would concentrate on making sure Lloyd feel comfortable and welcomed. He did bring up the idea to Lloyd about therapy, the teenager had been confused and surprised at first, saying he was fine, until Logan managed to give him some more information about what he meant, Lloyd hadn’t seemed strongly against the idea, but had wanted to wait a bit. They would just have to wait and see. Logan was sure Emile knew someone who could help the teenager.

“What about this one?” Lloyd asked looking to Patton and Roman, he had moved to crouch amongst the cans of paint and was currently pointing at one. Remus had wormed his way out of Logan’s hold and stood with them as well, helping Lloyd choose the colour. Virgil still clung to the one he choose, pouting.

The four found a hue, a pretty pale pastel yellow. While the kids carried the other paint buckets back to their original place, Lloyd crouched before Virgil and asked if he could see the colour the eight year old had chosen. It was a deep rich yellow, and Lloyd was barely aware that he gasped. How Virgil had found the paint can with his favourite colour was beyond him, but he sent a worried look to Logan who was helping the kids get the paint cans back. The others had one colour each in their rooms. Should he ask if he could choose two? What if Logan got mad. 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Logan asked, now crouching next to him.

“Wha- Huh?” Lloyd gave him a confused look.

“Virgil called me over, because you stopped responding. You feeling okay?”

“Uh... yeah. Just- just overthinking...” Lloyd looked away playing with some of his blond locks.

“About?”

“If... maybe I... could... paint my room with... two... colours...?” Lloyd was worrying his lip when he stopped talking. Logan blinked before he saw the paint bucket Lloyd was holding and the one Virgil still held close.

Ah.

“Sure. How do you want it? Like Virgil and Patton’s room or keep one wall a colour like the twins?”

“I don’t know- Wait seriously?!” Lloyd stared up at him.

“I’m always serious, clearly, necktie.” Logan said gesturing to the pale blue tie.

“PAPA MADE A DAD JOKE!” Patton shouted from there he stood, having just returned the last bucket of paint, making Logan curse under his breath, only for Virgil and Lloyd to snicker at him.

The painting of the room was a chaotic event. Thomas and Emile once again came over to help, but now all the kids were in _one_ room at the same time. Logan was groaning when more paint was added on skin than on the walls., but he was not complaining when it made Lloyd laugh.

In the end the room became yellow, pastel colours on three of the walls and the rich yellow on the wall opposite the doorway.

Lloyd also drew some cartoony looking snakes with the remaining paint from all the kids rooms, making them slither near the floor, making Patton squeal about the little tongues, while Remus gasped happily at the fact that Lloyd drew snakes to being with.

Logan smiled from the doorway, he had sent the kids to get clean and was currently watching Lloyd put the finishing touches on the last snake before he moved back to his feet and into the middle of the room to get a look around.

“Good job.” Logan said making Lloyd jump and turn to look at him, he had some yellow paint smeared on his cheeks and in his hair, but he was beaming.

Logan stumbled when Lloyd crashed into him for a strong hug. Logan gave it back with a laugh once he regained his balance.

“Thanks _dad_.” Lloyd said with a grin big enough to be heard in his voice, hugging Logan harder for a short moment, and Logan felt his heart swell with love and care.

“ _Remus! Your underwear!_ ”

“ _No! I’m Captain Underpants!_ ”

The door to the bathroom was thrown open and Remus, in all his naked glory, rushed out only a towel tied around his neck to be imagined as a cape.

“You’re only wearing a towel!” Patton cried as he appeared in the doorway half way dressed, in only his pants, waving a clean pair of octopus printed underwear in his hand. “Captain Underpants wears BOTH!”

“ _NOT THIS ONE!_ ”

Lloyd could only burst out laughing, clinging to Logan for dear life to keep himself standing upright. Logan was laughing too.


End file.
